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After driving on the wrong side of the road he was stopped by an officer as they were followed by a police car.

They then sped off and swerved round roadwork vehicles and onto the grass verge.

There, the driver continued to drive away, jeopardising the lives of all the road workers on that stretch of road.

Two barriers were in place for drivers to stop and be escorted through with an escort, which were ignored by this driver.

Highways England released the footage in a bid to raise awareness to the thousands of road workers whose lives are being put at risk.

Research carried out by the firm revealed "a catalogue" of serious incidents and near misses ranging from motorists driving into coned off areas where road workers are working to physical and verbal abuse.

"While we plan our maintenance and improvement works to minimise inconvenience to drivers, some road closures are necessary, and ultimately for the benefit of road users.

"Drivers who selfishly and illegally ignore these traffic restrictions force their way through are putting both their lives and those of our road workers at risk – all to save a few minutes on their journey."

On average there are nearly 300 incidents a week of incursions and abuse reported by road workers who are busy improving Britain’s 4300 miles of motorways and strategic A roads for the benefit of all road users.

Adie Whiting, 33, who has worked for Interserve on behalf of Highways England as a traffic control safety officer, said:

"I’ve been sworn at a lot, physically threatened on occasions and even had someone try to run me over once.

"You have to have a thick skin doing this job."

And of almost 3500 incidents recorded between July 2017 until September 2017, 150 were serious, leading to four road workers and two motorists being injured.